Water for a big city

SUE “Vodokanal of St. Petersburg” provides drinking water to 5 million citizens and tens of thousands of companies and enterprises. One more task of Vodokanal is to collect and treat wastewater.

Vodokanal helps “the natives” of the Baltic Sea and Lake Ladoga

Since 2013, endangered pinnipeds - grey seals and (Baltic and Ladoga) ringed seals- have been rehabilitated at the premises of Repino wastewater treatment plant in the Kurortny District of St. Petersburg.

98.5 % of wastewater is treated in St. Petersburg

Phosphorus content in the city's total effluent does not exceed 0.5 mg/l

Since June 28, 2011 Saint-Petersburg has been fully implementing the Helsinki Commission's recommendations for preservation of the Baltic Sea

Helping the Pinnipeds Project is of great interest to biologists gathered in France

05.08.2015

SUE “Vodokanal of St. Petersburg” and the Baltic Seal Friends Fund represent the marine mammals rehabilitation project in the international conference in France. 27th International Congress for Conservation Biology and 4th European Congress for Conservation Biology take place in August 2 - 6, 2015 in Montpellier.

The visitors can get to know about the Baltic Seal Friends Fund activities, learn the last season details of the Helping the Pinnipeds Project as well as about Vodokanal of St. Petersburg and its projects aimed at improving the environment at their joint exhibit booth.

The booth is with good reason very popular, according to Vyacheslav Alekseev - the Baltic Sea Friends Fund Director, because it tells about work of the only Russian specialized rehabilitation area for marine mammals. In addition, the Marine Mammals Research and Conservation Centre located at Vodokanals wastewater treatment plant is the only centre in the world for freshwater seals - Ladoga subspecies of the ringed seals.

Let us recall that the Marine Mammals Research and Conservation Centre was opened after reconstruction in September 2014. However, cooperative efforts of Vodokanal and zoologists to rescue seal pups has been provided since 2013. In the season 2013, the specialists managed to cure and released five seals, in 2014 – 29 including five Baltic ringed seals. The rehabilitation season 2015 has ended recently. On 29th of July, three Ladoga ringed seals were released. 14 mammals were totally rehabilitated in the Centre. One of the patients (the Baltic ringed seal pup Inger) is still under treatment due to serious injuries. Her eye was damaged her jaw was broken, there was acute inflammation of the tissues. Inger is getting better but cannot be prepared to wild life until winter, when it will be no longer possible to release it. Therefore, the seal will stay in Repino up to the next spring-summer season.

All the details about the patients of the Marine Mammals Research and Conservation Centre can be found in the Baltic Sea Friends Fund website (http://www.balticseal.org/). In “How to Help” section you will find the information how any person can participate in the Fund activity.